Reports indicate Church of Scientology and Tom Cruise pressured network to cancel a South Park show satirizing the Hollywood religion. Katharine DeBrecht -- author of "Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper" -- condemns the actions as censorship and asks "Where's George Clooney now?"

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 20, 2006 -- Best-selling conservative children's author Katharine DeBrecht is pointing to recent reports of a conflict between the creators of the "South Park" cartoon and the Church of Scientology as yet more proof of Hollywood liberal hypocrisy, and she is pointing a finger at Oscar winner George Clooney in the process.

Recent reports in the respected trade magazine Daily Variety suggest that the Church of Scientology used its well known celebrity muscle to pressure Comedy Central into pulling an upcoming episode of "South Park" that satirized the religion. According to the publication, the clash between Scientology and the South Park creators is escalating in the wake of this latest move. The controversy first gained national attention earlier this week when Isaac Hayes, the voice of the popular character Chef, quit over an episode mocking Scientology and its most famous adherent, Tom Cruise.

Daily Variety reports a rumor suggesting that Cruise stepped in at the request of the Church of Scientology, by saying he would refuse to help promote his upcoming movie "Mission: Impossible 3" unless the episode was pulled. Comedy Central is owned by Viacom, the media conglomerate that also owns Paramount, the studio behind the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

"These reports, if true, smack of exactly the kind of strategy Muslims have been using in terms of the Mohammed cartoons -- stifling free speech because it sometimes offends religious beliefs, says best-selling children's author Katharine DeBrecht, whose new book "Help! Mom! Hollywood's in My Hamper!" (Kids Ahead; hardcover: $15.95; ISBN 0976726912) also satirizes Scientology and Cruise, as well as a number of other Hollywood personalities. "While I am not a fan of 'South Park' -- and I certainly don't think it's an appropriate program for kids -- its a show that has consistently skewered many religions, including Christianity and Judaism. What makes Scientology different? We must all defend the shows right to parody this religion and Tom Cruise, its most outspoken advocate.

"I also satirize Scientology and other trendy Hollywood religions in my new book as something called 'Toenailology,'" adds DeBrecht. "Does this mean the Church of Scientology will come after me next?" DeBrecht adds that Scientology -- which has many Hollywood stars and power brokers in its ranks, including John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Beck, Jenna Elfman, and Lisa Marie Presley -- teaches that humans can reach a godlike state, something she believes is opposed to traditional values.

"Where are George Clooney and his brave Hollywood friends?" notes DeBecht, chiding the outspoken liberal who made a particular point during the Oscars of patting himself on the back for having the courage to call Joseph McCarthy a bad guy -- 50 years and countless books and documentaries after the fact. "Heres censorship happening right under Hollywood's nose, but instead of confronting an actual free speech issue, all these brave liberals souls dont want to take on a clear violation of free speech when it involves a big-name actor who might be able to give them a job somewhere down the road."

About Kids Ahead: Kids Ahead is an imprint of Los Angeles-based World Ahead Publishing, the West Coast's leading publisher of conservative books. Visit http://www.helpmombooks.com to learn more.

This is just too much. I guess I can believe that Tom Cruise is up to this with all the odd stuff he's done lately -- but South Park?!? What a silly battle to fight. They parody everyone.

Katharine DeBrecht is right to call out George Clooney (or George C. Looney, as Savage calls him) for his hypocrisy on this issue, though. I guess his free speech crusade doesn't go any further than dead senators...

Read the recent Rolling Stone article about those nutbags. Southpark won't air the episode anymore that deals with the Scientologists. They intimidate by litigation. The article is very eye opening. Can't believe they actually wrote about it. I always knew they were wackos, but this article brought new stuff to light.

Cruise is totally off the deep end. I used to think Nichole Kidman was the bad guy in their breakup, now it looks like she was the smart one. Cruise is just another out of touch, mindless actor that has fallen hook, line and sinker for the cult scene. He's now a non-entity as far as I'm concerned.

I'm sure James Earl Jones could fill in for Isaac Hayes....."Kenny I am your faaaatha"

11
posted on 03/20/2006 5:44:09 PM PST
by stm
(You can fix a lot of thing s, but you can't fix stupid)

Cruise is totally off the deep end. I used to think Nichole Kidman was the bad guy in their breakup, now it looks like she was the smart one.

My wife tells me that the rumors were that Kidman left him because of Scientology, and that she wanted to raise their children Catholic. I don't know if that is true or not, but it certainly would explain why she would leave. And looking back now, I'm sure she does not regret it...

"Heres censorship happening right under Hollywood's nose, but instead of confronting an actual free speech issue, all these brave liberals souls dont want to take on a clear violation of free speech when it involves a big-name actor who might be able to give them a job somewhere down the road."

Sorry to nitpick, folks, but what this article describes isn't censorship. Censorship requires government or the use of force. Mr. Cruise isn't threatening anyone's physical safety, he's simply threatening to not do business.

If we describe this situation as censorship, we'd also have to say that people boycotting Dixie Chicks CD's or sponsors pulling support from NBC over the "Book of Daniel" show are also cases of censorship. Clearly, they are not.

Throwing someone in jail for mocking Scientology is censorship. Threatening to cut off someone's head for mocking L. Ron Hubbard is censorship.

Refusing to act in a movie if a company disrespects your religion, despite how silly it may be, is not censorship.

Keep educating yourself. It scares me how many people think Scientology is just another loopy-but-harmless self-help group. Can you think of any other "religion" that has to keep its leaders/headquarters on a ship which stays in international waters at all times?

I wasn't aware that Scientology used physical threats against their opponents; I guess I do need to read up on the subject. Can you recommend any good places to start?

That being said, the particular case under discussion doesn't involve threats of violence. It hasn't been reported that Cruise is setting fire to Viacom or roughing people up outside of Paramount headquarters. Of course, given some of his antics, I won't say those things couldn't happen in the future. Still, all he's done so far is to threaten to not do business, and that isn't censorship.

Actual violence is rare, at least against non-members. Here's the story of a member who tried to leave and didn't get out alive http://www.lisamcpherson.org/ And threats of violence have been used against concerned relatives of members http://lermanet.com/idacamburn/ . Blackmail/framing is the usual MO, and is used against members who have been coerced into performing illegal acts while Scientology documents them, and against non-members who have been lured into Scientology front groups, which gather a lot of personal and financial information on them. One of their ruses is to set up practice management consulting firms targeting unsuspecting doctors and dentists. And they're fond of bankrupting individuals and businesses who criticize them, with legal attacks.

There is some evidence that the rise of the Internet is putting a damper on a lot of Scientology activities, as it's much easier to get and spread info about them. Tom Cruise has done a heck of a job too, what with the whole Katie Holmes affair, and his going off on Brooke Shields on national TV (in case you missed it, he went ballistic on her on a talk show, because she had used medication to deal with post-partum depression).

One particular thing to be on the lookout for: ANY individual or group which claims that there is "no such thing" as attention deficit disorder and that NObody is helped by medication for it, is either affiliated with Scientology or under the influence of people who are. One of their big money-makers in recent years has been setting up front groups which claim to provide drug-free "therapy" for ADD. Very expensive therapy, of course. This has been hugely successful, since they're capitalizing on the epidemic of incompetent school officials and parents whose practices have resulted in hordes of out of control kids, who the same incompetents then try to control with Ritalin and similar drugs. There's a huge pool of parents who correctly believe that non-drug methods should be tried before resorting to drugs, and that "diagnoses" of ADD are often unfounded. But frankly, any kid -- with or without real ADD -- is better off on Ritalin, than having their whole family tangled up with a Scientology front group.

To split semantic hairs, violence and threats thereof, from a non-government entity, isn't technically "censorship" either, but it's at least as bad.

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